CONNECTICUT. 



COSTA EICA. 



227 



number enrolled in the State, as liable to mil- 

 itary duty, was 63,793 an increase of 1,690 

 over the enrollment of 1875. The number of 

 persons assessed for a commutation tax of $2 

 was 40,636, or 1,145 more than in 1875 ; giv- 

 ing the State, for the support of the National 

 Guard, the sum of $81,272. This was $2,290 

 more than in any previous year, and an in- 

 crease of $11,476 since May, 1873. 



The new State-House building at Hartford 

 is progressing toward completion, though the 

 commissioners who have its erection in charge, 

 in their report to the Legislature at the Jan- 

 uary session of 1877, say that they cannot 

 assure the General Assembly that the building 

 " will be ready for occupancy in January, 

 1878 ;" adding that " it would not be best to 

 force the work to that degree which would 

 be necessary to finish it for that time." The 

 sums received by the commissioners during the 

 year, since their previous report, was $268,- 

 307.90 ; expended, $261,839.51. The total 

 amounts paid by the State and the city of 

 Hartford, and expended on account of the 

 new Capitol building, from January 27, 1872, 

 to November 30, 1876, are as follows : 



RECEIPTS. 



From the State of Connecticut $1,168,500 00 



" city of Hartford 272,00000 



" miscellaneous sources 5,964 04 



Total $1,441,464 04 



EXPENDITURES. 



On construction account $1,310,CTO 98 



For architect's fees, superintendence, and gen- 

 eral expenditures 128,824 72 



Cash in bank, December 1, 18T6 6,963 89 



Total $1,441,46404 



In addition to the above-stated payments, 

 the sum of $375,000 has been paid in 1877 

 for the new Capitol structure by the State 

 $350,000, and by the city of Hartford $25,000 

 making a total paid for that purpose, to the 

 end of 1877, of $1,816,464.04. 



On March 27, 1877, a great calamity visited 

 the town of Stafford, in Connecticut, by the 

 breaking away of the dam of the Staffordville 

 reservoir before sunrise that day. The im- 

 petuous torrent formed by the waters rushing 

 out of it suddenly inundated the valley along 

 the course and on each side of the river below 

 the reservoir, demolishing and sweeping away 

 before it bridges, mills, shops, dwelling-houses, 

 and all other structures which it met with in 

 its passage. Such buildings as escaped entire 

 destruction were either moved from their 

 places, or turned nearly round, or otherwise 

 seriously injured ; if nothing else, undermined. 

 Besides the destruction of property, valued at 

 several hundred thousands of dollars, three 

 lives were lost. The disaster, it is thought, 

 was caused chiefly by substantial defects of 

 construction, helped by the secondary and 

 immediate causes of very heavy rains fallen 

 on the previous day, and the rapid melting 

 of the snow on the hill-sides around. The 

 reservoir having thus been filled to overflow- 



ing in an incredibly short time, the dam could 

 not withstand that impulse. The loss of life 

 would doubtless have been incomparably 

 greater, but for the circumstance that, the 

 breaking out of the reservoir having been, if not 

 expected, strongly apprehended, the dam had 

 been closely watched by a number of men all 

 the previous night, and, at the first indica- 

 tions of the impending catastrophe, which 

 manifested themselves after three o'clock in 

 the morning, horsemen and footmen were 

 dispatched in haste to warn the inhabitants 

 along the line of the stream below the reser- 

 voir, to flee, and save themselves from the 

 coming flood. 



From the report of an accurate survey, made 

 about two years ago by four experts in such 

 niatters, we append hereto a list of the highest 

 mountain-points in the different sections of 

 Connecticut. The number of feet given to 

 each elevation in the list is above tide- water, 

 all having been ascertained by actual measure- 

 ment, excepting the last three, which have 

 been estimated according to the best methods 

 known to approach the truth the nearest. 

 The result of this survey rectifies some er- 

 roneous ideas generally entertained in regard 

 to the comparative heights of the elevated 

 lands in Connecticut. Among others, it set- 

 tles the point that Mount Brace, in Salisbury 

 exactly in the northwest corner of the State 

 is about 700 feet more elevated than Mount 

 Ivy, in Goshen, which has commonly been re- 

 puted the highest land in Connecticut. To 

 an observer from the tower on Talcott Moun- 

 tain, the view embraces a region extending 

 upward of 100 miles north and south, and 70 

 or 80 miles east and west. The elevated points, 

 and their respective heights, are as follows: 



Feet. 



Spaulding's Summit, Norfolk 1,886 



Platt Mountain, Winchester 1,460 



Chamberlain Mountain, Winchester 1,480 



Ivy Mountain, Goshen 1,642 



Kiggs Mountain, Norfolk 1,565 



Knapp Mountain, " 1,617 



Moses Mountain, " 1,645 



Dutton Mountain, 1,672 



Summer Mountain, " 1,672 



Haystack Mountain, " 1,672 



Gaylord Mountain " 1,717 



Bafd Mountain, " 1,770 



Winrow Mountain, " 1,770 



Mount Bradford, Canaan 1,960 



Clipper Mountain. " 1,810 



Bald Peak, Salisbury. 1,996 



Buck Mountain, Salisbury ) ( 2,150 



Bear Mountain, * V Estimated -{ 2,250 



Mount Brace, " ) ( 2,800 



COSTA RICA (REPUBLIOA DK COSTA RIGA), 

 one of the five independent states of Central 

 America, situated between 8 and 11 5 'north 

 latitude and 81 20' and 85 53' west longitude. 

 It is bounded on the north by Nicaragua, on 

 the east by the Caribbean Sea, and on the 

 south and west by the Pacific Ocean. 



The territory of the Republic comprises an 

 area of 21,490 square miles; and the estimated 

 population, in 1874, was 185,000, of whom 

 some 5,000 were civilized Indians, from 10,000 

 to 12,000 Indians still existing in a state of 



